Carrying handle for cardboard boxes or the like



July 17, 1962 B. v. WIGEMARK 3,044,105

CARRYING HANDLE FOR CARDBOARD BOXES OR THE LIKE Filed Oct. '7, 1959 INVENTOR.

United States Patent 3,044,105 CARRYING HANDLE FOR CARDBOARD BDXES OR THE LEKE Berti! Vidar Wigemark, Ormgatan 7, Goteborg S, Sweden Filed Oct. 7, 1959, Ser. No. 844,902- 3 Claims. (til. 16-125) It is known to use removable handles for carrying boxes, suitcases and the like of cardboard or similar material. Such known handles comprise strips of cardboard having their ends doubled and attached to themselves by means of staples in such a way that there are formed free tongues which are directed towards the centre of the strip and which serve as means for attaching the strip to the box. The ends of the handle are forced through slots in the box in such a way that each slot is from below covered by the tongue which, when exposed to tensile stresses, will abut against the inner surface of the box.

Such handles are, however, uneasy to use as their rather sharp edges hurt or irritate the hand palms and fingers of the carrier. The tensile stresses are in an unfavorable way transmitted to the box wall and will have a detrimental influence on the material of the box, especially on the border of the slots. Such previously known handles are rather diflicult to apply to the boxes as, if the operation is to be carried out in a satisfactory way, the free ends of the tongues on the underside of the handle must be held in such a Way that they engage the underside of the box wall.

There is further known a handle for boxes and suitcases of cardboard etc. which is manufactured from plastics in the form of strips, said handle having at both its ends longitudinal flanges provided with flattened, T- shaped locking disks which are to be entered into two slots arranged at some mutual distance in the box. Upon entering through the slots, the locking disks rest on both sides of the slots at the inner side of the box. As in such an embodiment of the handle, the planes of the disks are defined on one hand by the longitudinal direction of the strips between said disks and the central portion of the handle and on the other hand by lateral, straight lines which run parallel to the plane of the central portion of the handle, said locking disks must be turned first 90 before they can be entered into their slots and upon entering being returned to their original positions. Such a turning of the locking disks requires not only lots of time but it may also be difficult to carry out the entering of especially the second locking disk. The slots must be shaped as keyholes so as to render possible a turning of the locking disks to their original positions and the strips must be shaped as short, round rods. Further, the locking disks are also upon their entrance directed perpendicularly into the interior of the box in such a way that they only with their thin border rest against the inner side of the box which involves a great risk for the wall of the box to burst which is weaker at the border of the slot, especially when the box contains heavy loads. Finally, because of the erected position of the locking disks, the interior of the box cannot be used to its whole extension.

In comparison with the earlier known handles of the kind referred to, the handle according to present invention is mainly characterised by the fact that between the central portion of the handle, i.e. the portion to be gripped by the hand, and the locking plate there are arranged bandlike portions connected to the central portion of the locking plate, these plates having essentially the same width as said bandlike portions, and further, the length of the bandlike portion exceeding half the length of the locking plate at its free end.

This special arrangement of the locking plates at th bandlike portions involves not only the advantage that the same can be easily and quickly entered into the slots taken up in the box but most of all that the locking plates abut with their whole broad surface against the inner surface of the box. This means that, at the carrying of the box, the pressure exerted by the locking plates against the inner surface of the box is distributed over a greatercontact surface than in earlier known constructions and thus preventing a tearing of the boxes, such a tearing being rather common at the use of previous constructions. Furthermore, the need of space is considerably smaller of the device according to the invention than of previous constructions and this is especially advantageous when in the box there is to be put relatively rigid objects filling completely the box.

In an advantageous embodiment of the device described, the longitudinally extending locking plates are provided with a reinforcing rib extending almost perpendicularly to the direction of the bandlike portions and in the longitudinal direction of the locking'plates.

In order to obtain a comfortable carrying, the grip portion could have a U-shaped cross section as in such a case the upwardly directed branches of said grip portion spring inwards when under load and then the bandlike portions preferably extend from the free edges of the branches. Hereby, it is rendered possible to bend the locking plates also along the bandlike portions, whereupon the locking plates can easily be entered into the slots in the box.

lnthe drawing, wherein is shown an embodiment of the device according to the invention:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a cardboard box, provided with a handle according to the invention,

FIG. 2 is a vertical section through the upper portion of the box,

FIG. 3 is a perspective view from above showing a portion of the box' with one of its ends just before the entering of a locking plate into a slot in the box,

FIG. 4 shows on an enlarged scale a view from above of the right hand end of the handle,

FIG. 5 shows a vertical section through the left hand end portion of the handle, and

FIG. 6 shows a view from below of the locking plate. 7

The handle 1 shown in the drawing is to be used in connection with suitcases 2, e.g. when a customer buys clothes in a shop. Such a suitcase 2 comprises a boxshaped bottom portion 3 with a bottom 4 and sidewalls, the upper side wall being designated 5, and a box-shaped upper portion 6 having a cover 7 and walls, of which the wall, situated uppermost when the box is in carrying position, being designated 8. In the Wall 8, there is arranged a longitudinal slot 9 for the passage of the main portion of the handle 1 and in the wall 5 there are arranged two lateral slots 10 (cf. particularly FIG. 3) for the entering of the ends of the handle 1.

The handle 1 is manufactured in one piece of a soft plastic material, preferably poly-ethylene or polythene. It comprises a grip portion 11 having a U-shaped cross section and two bandlike portions 13 which extend outwardly in the longitudinal direction of the portion 11 from either of its ends and from the upper edge of the grip portion (see FIG. 5). At the outer ends of the bandlike portions 13 there are arranged longitudinal locking plates 14 which extend in both directions and have their corners rounded. The plates 14 are provided with reinforcing ribs 15 extending in the longitudinal direction thereof.

At the applying of the handle 1, the locking plate 14 and its bandlike portion 13 is clamped between two fingers and bent in the way shown in FIG. 3 and then entered into the slot 10. In order to facilitate the entering operation, the length of the bandlike member should have at least half the length "of the locking plate 14. Upon entering intothe slot, the locking plate 14 rests againstrthe,

under surface of the wall 5 (FIG. 2), and then the locking plate 14 extends on both sides of the slot 10. At the carrying, the tensile stresses are thns distributed, equallyover the box walls 55:8 ion both'sidesiof the slot 10.- The, grip portion 11 is formed insucha way that it suits the hand palm and the fingers of the carrying person and the branches spring inwards under load. The suitcase may thus be comfortably carried.

What I claim is:

1. A device for. carrying a cardboard box, a suitcase,

or. a similar container wherein said container is provided with'ispaced parallel slots through at least a part of the upper Wallsv of the container, said device comprising a substantially longitudinal handle of plastic material havingva .middle grip portionof U ,shapecross section; two resilient strip portions integrally joined to extend from the ends. of said gripportion; and elongated locking plates on the outerextremities of the strip portionsof substantially the same width as said strip portions, said strip portions each being integrally, joined transversely to the mid portion of a. locking plate, 'said strip portions being at least one half as long as said plates so that said plates may be folded substantially parallel to said strip portions References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,087,103 Black Feb. 1.7, 1914 1,171,228 Misroch et al. Feb. 8, 1916 1,376,528 Grant May 3, 1921 2,128,723 Zettler Aug. 30, 1938 2,881,451 Bechik Apr. 14, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 24,342 Australia Sept. 7, 1936 394,334 Great Britain June 21, 1933 935,959 Germany Dec. 1, 1955 

